Measurements:19 3/4 square inches (framed)14 x 15 inches (sheet)Terrific signed, titled and dated mixed media print. Framed and ready to hang. Makes a great gift - and work about peace in these troubled times.Alan Shields pushes the boundaries of what defines a print. His mixed media works often contain unstretched canvas and lattice such as this exquisite piece.Framed and ready to hang. This limited edition of only 20 was originally sold by the Paula Cooper Gallery in NYC.

New York Times Art Critic Roberta Smith wrote in his 2005 obituary: "Mr. Shields's work combined expanses of gorgeous stained color, reminiscent of Helen Frankenthaler's canvases, with the humbler crafts and a Gypsy sense of portability." Critic Robert Hughes has described Shields as a brilliant bricoleur who could, and often did, make art out of just about anything. He became an innovative printmaker, experimenting with handmade paper and turning out editions in which each print was unique. After his passing, Alan Shield was awarded a Judith Rothschild Foundation grant given to a deceased abstract artists whose work is of the highest quality but merits further recognition.

About Alan Shields

A prominent and idiosyncratic figure in the New York art world of the 1970s, Alan Shields made vibrant collages from scraps of cloth, un-stretched canvas, rope, beads, wood, and pipe cleaners, staining the stitched and woven surfaces of his three-dimensional paintings with dye. Shields grew up on a farm in Kansas, where he learned to sew from his mother and sisters, later employing the skill in his machine-stitched, textile-like works. Speaking of his wide range of materials, he once said, “It’s just like farming. It’s good to rotate crops. It’s good to change media.” His compositions sometimes feature psychedelic coloring and recurring characters, such as Worm, an alter ego for Shields represented by a strip of fabric waving across the canvas; or imagery that evokes non-Western cultures, such as mandalas and constellations. He also produced prints and experimented with jewelry, animation, sculpture, and—influenced by Buckminster Fuller—built spherical or tepee-like structures. He is considered a forerunner to contemporary artists such as Jessica Stockholder, Jim Drain, and John Bock.